Bermuda insurers will cover more than $2.5 billion of Sandy claims

Bermuda insurers will cover more than $2.5 billion of claims resulting from last fall’s Hurricane Sandym the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) said late last week.

Loss estimates from the storm are around $18 billion, with about half of the claims being covered by international insurers, the group noted.

“Hurricane Sandy reaffirms why the United States needs a robust insurance market that is open to as many competitors as possible and encourages direct foreign investment — including Bermuda,” ABIR president and executive direction Bradley Kading said in a statement issued during the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) in Washington, D.C. Saturday.

“From 2001 to 2012, Bermuda insurers and reinsurers have covered an estimated $35 billion in U.S. catastrophe losses, including $2.5 billion in response to the World Trade Center tragedy, $17 billion for Hurricane Katrina, and $2 billion following tornado outbreaks from 2010 to 2012,” he added.

Kading said the Bermuda companies’ scientific approach to catastrophe underwriting and regulatory solvency requirements for reinsurers set out by the Bermuda Monetary Authority for the market’s ability to take on losses from events like Sandy.